Quinoa Salad with Lime and Fresh Mint...

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) has become very familiar in the last twenty years. This important grain has ancient origins, dating back over five thousand years to the mighty Inca civilization of South America. Quinoa was so important to the inca culture they referred to it as the Mother Grain...is is the superfood of the future because of the nutritional qualities...Quinoa contains more high quality protein that any other grain and is thought of as one of the best sources of vegetable proteins. It contains no gluten and is light, tasty and easy to digest. It is much less filling than other grains and has a nutty texture and flavor...when it was cooking it smelled like beans cooking...it can be used anywhere you would use rice...I cooked mine in the rice cooker, using the same recipe as rice...it came out fluffy and soft. I had a salad once similar to this in Polson, Montana at a big whole foods market...if you ever go to Polson, go there, they have the best deli!

Quinoa Salad Recipe with Lime and Fresh Mint

1 cup dry quinoa
2 tablespoons fruity extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 2 limes
2-3 fresh mint sprigs, leaves removed and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves or parsley, or both
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 small roma tomato seeded and cut in a small dice
2 tablespoons diced red onion- or use 2 chopped scallions
1 garlic clove, minced

Cook the quinoa as you would raw rice: in 2 and 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups fresh salted water, covered, until all of the water is absorbed.I use my rice cooker to do this. The quick turns out fluffy, tender and perfect. Let cool.Scoop the cooked quick into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients, tossing lightly with a fork until combined.Taste test and adjust seasonings.
Cover and chill- the longer, the better. In fact, I think this salad tastes better the second day- so plan ahead and make it the day before.
Makes 4-6 servings.

get the few indgredients together...

this is the cooked, cooled Quinoa....looks like rice....

add all the ingredients...and mix it all together....add salt and pepper to taste...

This is a great salad...full of flavor bursts...you need to use very little salt, the lime does a good job at flavoring. The flavors of this salad are very adult...I laugh to think of what my children would have done, had I served it to them. So I would stick to serving this to adults. It would be great with Satay... chicken skewers, that have been barbecued and served with a peanut sauce.

Cheers to Happy   !!

Sugar Lemon...

This is my new favorite thing...I am not a perfume person...not at all...it makes me ill..even candles make me feel that way, except for food smells...like citrus or cookie or vanilla or cinnamon...so tonight I found this new smell! It is fresh and clean and crisp and smells like, well sugar lemon, it is a great perfume...I keep smelling my wrist...I am going back to buy this...it is so spring and summery.
They sell it at Sephora or on line...oh get some too, kay?

Cheers to Happy  !!

The Barn at the Swalander place.

I want to share something with you.  I have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to live on my Great grandparents homestead.  They came to this land from Sweden via Kansas.
They came to live on this farm in Puyallup in 1893.  My mother and her brother and sisters were raised on this farm also.

My sister Candy and I bought acres from Grandma and Grandpa in the 1970's.
We are neighbors.
I bought the barn yard.  The pictures above are from one of my great aunts photo albums.  Taken around 1903.  It was a very beautiful old barn.  My grandpa quit farming after he retired and the barn fell into some disrepair.  So when I built my log cabin we had to take down the major part of the barn.  Leaving the horse tack and feed room plus the open back of the barn where the cows came in out of the rain.

I have loved this old building.  So many pictures have been taken of it. By myself and others.  My plan was to take the barn down carefully so we could repurpose the wood.  We did just that.  My brother, nephews and son got together with friends and piece by piece gently disassembled this old friend.

We found some of the coolest things.  Many many pairs of little shoes.  The Swalander's were a "waste not-want not" kind of can do family.  We found lots of pieces of leather and straps and buckles, horse collars.  horse and oxen shoes.

So the plan was to tear down the barn and put a garden in on the site.  What an amazing surprise there were very few rocks to contend with and just let me say this we grow rocks on this hill and it is rare to find anyspot that you can just sink your shovel in and not have the blade hit rocks one half inch down.

My friend Jim came over and rototilled for us and we raked it out.  Oh gosh only a little excited.  We decided to plant only heirloom seeds and got some of the tomatoes started along with tobacco seeds.  Oh yes we did!!!  Great Uncle Carl used to grow his own tobacco here over one hundred years ago so to honor him we are trying it again.  I ordered the seeds on line and the name is "Dark Virginian"  it sounded so exotic, just couldn't resist.

So we had lots of fun making signs and planting our seeds.
My nephews and grandson helped plant the seeds.  It was the coolest thing to see the pride on everyone's faces when the planting was finished.

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Ok so we planted all sorts of wonderful things.  I will follow up as the season progresses'.  I so hope you enjoyed this little tour through the garden.

And to end this I say:

CHEER'S TO HAPPY!!!

May yard....

I have not been blogging very much the last couple of weeks, I have been outside in my yard...getting it ready for summer...planting the garden...weeding...mowing...edgeing...and regular spruce up....

here I planted some starts of my heirloom plants, they are not up yet...I did take a peek inside and I didn't see anything...oh I hope they come up.....

this is my garden...I am trying to be alot more organized and try not to crowd things, last year I had a virtual jungle in there...I put up that red climbing deal...hoping that my climbing cucumbers will go up it...it is a piece of an old bed rail....I used sawdust to make a walking path...I hope it doesn't dissapear..last year it did....

this is a new addition this year...a water trough for animals..filled with compost...I planted chard, lettuce, carrots and radishes here...

this is the view back at my yard, from the garden...I thought I would show some of it....I walked around it this morning with my camera...I counted my Rhodes and Azalea's, 48 Rhodes and 30 Azaleas....the previous home owners were landscape designers....kind of them, huh?

this is the campground area....I love this area......this is the morning coffee area, it has that warm morning sun..

this is the outdoor favorite place..... the lawn swing may be my favorite...it is the place I dream about when I am at work

the herb garden, I planted some basil and caraway and cilantro seeds, I have high hopes for the basil....

this is the middle yard.....

I planted this planter, not exactly like the magazine picture I copied but close enough...

outdoor living area...

rhodie

rhodie

bearded iris....

rhodie

rhodie

rhodie

azalea..orange you glad I didn't say Rhodie?

lots more to blossom....

rhodie...

rhodies...

peonies ready to pop...

Rhodie that I don't know what it is....does anyone know? it looks like a cake decoration...

here is the ugly.....this is all weeds...lot more work to do!

Cheers to Happy  !!

Did you know this about Bumblebees?

Bumblebees are large, hairy social insects with a lazy buzz and clumsy, bumbling flight. Many of them are black and yellow, and along with ladybugs and butterflies are perhaps the only insects that almost everyone likes. Queen and worker bumblebees can sting, when threatened...

Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.

It has been widely reported that Einstein said that without bees to pollinate our food crops humans would die off in just 4 years. He was wrong, we will die off in 7 years. We have been warned, but will it do any good? 

Bees have a long proboscis (a complex "tongue") that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. They have antennae almost universally made up of 13 segments in males and 12 in females, as is typical for the superfamily. Bees all have two pairs of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none are wingless.Bumblebees are one of the more important wild pollinators, so where would we be without them? I hope we never find out!

Cheers to Happy  !!

Hummus....

I can't be the only one who loves Hummus..it is so good and flavorful and healthy! and a breeze to make....It is good as it is a dip...you can dip fresh vegetables in it or chips in it...it is great with red wine, or not...kids like hummus...surprising, you don't have to tell them what is in it, and that it is a healthy dip...

Hummus

Ingredients:


1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.
Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).
Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate

gather all your ingredients....

drain your garbanzo beans...

measure all your ingredients into your food processor...

here they are....

blend until smooth...

pour a pool of olive oil on top and sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with pita chips or fresh pita bread...

oh my so, so good!!!!!

Cheers to Happy  !!